Power transmission



June 25, 1929. J, REECE ET AL POWER TRANSMISSION Filed Dec. l8, 1925SSheets-Sheet 5 Fig. 5.

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Patented June 25, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN REECE, 013 BOSTON, AND FRANKLIN A. REECE, OF BROOKLINE,MASSACHUSETTS,

ASSIGNORS TO REECE TRANSMISSION COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS,

CORPORATION OF MAINE.

POWER TRANSMISSION.

Application filed December 18, 1925. Serial No. 76,220.

This invention relates to power transmission and more especially toapparatus for use where varying speeds are required, for example inmotor vehicles, the invention having to do especially with the controlofdriving or speed ratio conditions.

The general object of the'invention is to aliord an effective andconvenient means of control or adjustment for changing the speed ordriving conditions from one adjustment to another, for example from highspeed to low speed, or from low speed to reverse drive. While thepresent invention may be used on various types of transmission it isherein shown, for purposes of illustration, applied to a transmission apparatus of the class employing one or more centrifugal masses which arecarried around 'by the driving parts or engine shaft while subject toinward and. outward or planetating motions through connections from thedriven shaft in a manner to cause the centrifugal force of the masses tobe transmitted as torque to the driven shaft, an instance of which classof transmission is shown in our prior Patent Number 1,551,692, issuedSeptember 1, 1925. In that prior patent is shown a self adjustingtransmission of the'class referred to, supplemented 3 by reverse drivingconnections with a pedal for putting the latter into eifect. A specificobject of the present invention is to supplement such prior apparatus byproviding a slow forward drive adjustment in addition to the regularforward transmission and the reverse drive. A further particular objectis to provide a lever or pedal control mechanism for shifting theadjustment from normal forward drive to either slow forward drive orslow reverse drive at will. Other and further objects and advantages ofthe present invention will be elucidated in the hereinafter followingdeseription of an illustrative embodiment thereof, or will be apparentto those skilled in the subject. To the attainment of the objects and advantages referred to the present invention consists in the novel powertransmission apparatus and the novel features of combination,arrangement, operation, mechanism and detail herein illustrated ordescribed.

in the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 may be considered a centralsectional view, looking generally from the left, of a transmissionapparatus embodying the present invcntion, the same taken on two radii,the upper jradius passing through the idler planetary gears, the lowerthrough one of the centrifugal mass carriers. The words, left, right,rear and front will be used herein with respect to the use of theapparatus in a motor vehicle.

Fig. 2 is a left elevation of the transmission shown in Fig. 1, but withthe driving parts omitted, and certain fixed parts broken away to showdetails of interior construction.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 4, looking fromthe left.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on thevline 4-4; of Fig. 2, looking from therear.

Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line. 5-5

of Fig. 3, looking from above.

Fig. 6 is a detached plan view of a part of the pedal connection.

Describing first the driving pa'rts the engine shaft 11 is shown ascarrying a disk or ,rcvolving support 12 which is thereb revolved by theengine power and whic causes the revolution of the centrifugal masses tobe described. To the rear of and facing the revoluble support 12 is anannular disk or ring 14, this being connected to the support 12 by anumber of studs 15' forming guides or bearings for the planetatingmasses, and a. number of studs 16 giving support to the connections orplanetary gears through which the masses cooperate with the drivenshaft. The described elements 11 to 16 revolve rigidl together andhaving substantial Wei ht an diameter they afford the fly wheel e ectessential with the use of internal combustion engines.

The rotary parts may be enclosed in an outer casing or housing 18 whichis shown as of stepped form, the rear side of the casing extendinginwardly to the rotary parts. Extending rearwardly from the outer stepof the casing are a number of integralconnecting webs 19, and an annularcover plate 20 is attached to the rear ends of the webs, this plateenclosing the parts notenclosed by the housing 18. At the inner edge ofthe annular plate 20 is shown a double flanged sleeve member 21 withinwhich is a ball bearing 22 between the sleeve and rotary parts to bedescribed.

7 tion frequencies other than that intended toin series with one of thewindin s of 48', a resonant circuit 51", which shal offer a highimpedance to waves of frequency f which it is desired to particularlyexc ude whilst behaving as a negligible impedance for waves of frequencyf. The opposite shall be done as regards the arrangement 48-505152having to transmit but waves of frequency I", i. e., all frequenciesexcepting f will be highly shunted by the trap circuit 51 and thenfrequency f in particular will be highly impeded by the series rejector50 tuned to that frequency. By means of the relays 54, 55, each actingas a double pole double-throw switch, it will be possible to assigneither of these coupling units to the .detector 56 and the other to thetransmitter 31, or conversely.

During the stand-by period, the output of detector 56 is connected tothe exciting winding of a relay 40 through the primary of transformer14' having a trap circuit 13 across its terminals and serially throughthe back contacts of three other relays 41, 47 and 43. Relay 40 isshunted by a condenser 39 which by-passes the variable component of thecurrent flowing therethrough. The secondary winding of transformer 14"is branched to the terminals of a tuning condenser 15 in parallel withthe exciting winding 58 of a tunin fork relay 57, each station having atuning ork relay having a distinct time period of its own. When thetuning fork 57 enters into vibration it closes the circuit of battery 22through contacts 59 and the winding of a drop relay 20, the latter beingshunted by a condenser 19 which bypasses the undulatory component of thecurrent. The parallel circuit 13 is tuned to the natural time period ofthe fork relay 57 at each station, and its object is to provide a shuntof negligible reactance to all modulaoperate the fork relay 57 of thecalled station.

Terminals 33 of the transmitter 31 are intended to be connected to themodulating system, that is, to the keying arrangement in the case oftelegraphic signalling and to the microphone system in the case oftelephonic signalling, and,,during the calling period only, to a sourceof definite low frequency, distinct for each station to be called.

In the drawing the telephone transmitter 24 may be connected thrutransformer 25 and filter 26 to the. back contacts of relay 30. Thefront contacts of relay 30 may be connected selectively to either sourceof low frequency 28 or 29 dependin on the position of key 27. Relay 30may ie operated by depressing key 37'. The low or modulating frequencysource 28 or 29 may be connected according to which station it isdesired to call. The armatures of relay 30 may be connected to terminals33 of the transmitter 31 to modulate the high frequency output oftransmitter 31 with the desired modulating current.

While transformer 14" at each station will be designed so as toefficiently transform onl waves of the frequency of fork 57 to which itis connected, and which corresponds to the modulation frequenc forcalling that station, it will be advisable, owever, to avoid the forkrelays of the uncalled stations being put into operation b successivetransient resonance effects resu ting from those components of speechmodulation as may coincide with the natural time eriod of the variousforks. With that end in view, forks having natural time periods aswidely separated as possible from the focus of the speech frequency scot-rum shall be chosen and then a suitable lter circuit 26 shall beused to suppress right at their origin, i. e., in the microphone system,such components of the speech as coincide with the modulationfrequencies used for effecting calls, having care, however, to restrictthe filter losses to the fork frequencies exclusively so as not todistort the speech by excessive curtailment of those components whichdetermine its intelligibility.

Let us now consider a few possible conditions of operation of thesystem, when the detector 56 is connected say to the couplingarrangement for f, as illustrated.

(a)One of the distant stations of the network transmits an unmodulatedcarrier wave of frequenc f which may be the standby frequency. nderthose conditions there will appear at terminals from the distant stationa corresponding alternating E. M. R, which will be transmitted to theinput terminals of 56 throu h the selective coupler 48"505153 w ich willgive rise, in the output circuit of 56, to a direct current of constantmean value. This constant current will operate the relay 40 through'theprimary system of 14 and the back contacts )f relays 41, 47 and 43. Itis obvious that this direct current flowing the primary system of 14"will be without effect on its secondary. The closing of busy relay 40will, on one hand operate the busy signal 38 and, on the other hand,will prevent all possible operation of transmitter starting rela 41through the receiver being eventually lifted off the hook 42.

(b)One of the stations transmits a carrie'r-wave of frequency f also butmodulated at a frequency other than that of the fork 57 at the stationconsidered. The effect of this transmission on the stand-by apparatus ofthe receiver in question will obviously be the same as that of thepreceding case, since trap circuit 13 practically short-circuits thatcomponent of thedetected current which corresponds to the unresonantmodulation frequency and thereby prevents it from being transferred onto fork relay 57 throu h transformer 14, fork relay 57 being, for t atmatator will not, under those conditions, be able to set his transmitterinto operation, it may at times be desirable that he be able to listenin to a conversation offering general interest latter for the stand-byrelay 40, transformer 14 and trap 13, by means of one of the makecontacts of relay 47 without, however, .unlocking his transmitterstarting equipment.

(0) One of the stations transmits a carrier wave of frequency fmodulated at the natural frequency of trap circuit 13 and hence at thatof fork 57. Under those conditions, there will be obtained, at theoutput of detector 56, a unidirectional current the mean amplitude ofwhich will vary at the frequency of trap circuit 13. The latter willthen behave as a very high impedance for the low l frequency componentand Willhence give rise to a large potential drop across its terminals.The primary winding of 14 will therefore be subjected to an alternatingE. M. F. corresponding to that of the modulation of the calling carrierwave. This E. M. F. will be transferred across the secondary which willin turn operate the winding 58 setting 57 into vibration. s

As stated above, the vibration of fork 57 will cause the operation ofthe drop relay 20. The drop will in turn operate the ringing rslay 43,the operation of which will, on one hand result in the closing of thecircuit of bell 45 and call 1amp44, and, on the other hand connect thetelephone transformer 12 to the output of detector 56 in place andinstead of 14 and 40. The switching out of the latter will preventsustained operation of the busylamp 38 and locking of starting relay 41.The operator at the called station considered may therefore lift thereceiver off 42 and thereby close the starting relay 41 which will inturn make a contact at the starting Eli terminals 34 of the transmitterthrough one of thoback contacts of monitoring relay 47 v and battery 22,on one hand, and, on the other hand will cause the bell 45 to ceaseoperating by opening its circuit.

It will be understood that by placlng battery 22 on the startingterminals 34, the trans-' mitter 31 which may be an electron-dischargetube will be started. If there be any modulating potential at theterminals 33, the high frequency current generated by the transmitterwill be modulated thereby.

The communication will thus be established. between the called stationand the station having transmitted the call. On re lacing the receiverat 42 at the end of the communication, call lamp 44 and bell 45' willgive the he must lift the drop of relay 20 and thereby restore thestand-by connections.

It will be noted that the exciting windings of shift-over relays 54, 55,are connected in parallel with startin terminals .34 of the transmitter31 throng one of the back contacts of ringing relay 43. They willtherefore be operated simultaneously with the starting equipmentbranched at 34 providing, however, that ringing relay 43 has not beenoperated just previously to the receiver being liftedofi" the hook. Incase ringing relay 43 would not have operated previously, which wouldcorrespond to a call initiated by the local station,- the shift-overrelays 54, 55, would then be operated simultaneously with the startingequipment connected at 34 and transmission would then take place onfrequency f whilst receiving would automatically be carried out onfrequency f. It will be. understood that transmitter 31 generates bothfrequencies f and f frequency 7" being transmitted and f beingsuppressed, if the arrangement 48-5051-53 be connected to thetransmitter; and frequency f being transmitted and f being suppressed,if the arrangement 4850--51-52 be connected to the transmitter. Therewill thus be realized a duplex signalling system in which transmissionwill automatically take place on f and reception on f 'if it is thestation considered which initiates a call, but in which the oppositewill automatically occur if the station sets his apparatus intooperation as a result of a received call.

Referring now to Fig. 2, there is shown a diagrammatic representation ofanother mode of carrying out the invention which comprises the use of athree-electrode tube detector for rectifying the carrier wave in placeand instead of we schematic detector 56 of Figure 1 and also of a secondthreeelectrode tube 16 for rectifying the low-frequency alternatingcomponent of the calling modulation. Tubes 3 and 16 have their filamentsheated by the common source 7 through steadying or ballast resistors 5and 18, volt meters 4 and 17 being branched across their respectivefilament terminals in order to measure the voltage applied thereto. Thegrids of tubes 3 and16 are connected to the slider of a potentiometer 9respectively through the carrier'wave input circuit 1-2 and the in utcircuit 14-45 of the low-frequency ca ling device. Potentiometer 9 isbranched across a battery 6 intended to suitably bias the grids withnegative potential. Capacity 10, branched across the potentiometerslider and the ositive terminal of battery, 6 operates in lby-passingoscillations around the potentiometer resistance. The output circuits ofboth tubes are also fed off a common source 8. The output circuit oftube 3 is connected to the various elements by means for depressing thebrake rod 87' and thereby cause its head 90 to press downwardly upon theupper lug 85, and tighten ward drive brake band 61 is applied ortightened by lifting the rear brake rod 67, while the reverse brake bandis applied by depressing the reverse brake rod 87 Normally both of therods are in neutral or brake rod 67, through the pin inoperativeposition as seen-in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, and in that position either ofthem is adapted to be held inoperative by the locking slide 74, which isshown in F igs. 2, 3 and 5 as engaged with the groove of the forwarddrive brake rod 67.

A controller or lever 95 is shown arranged to operate at will either ofthe brake rods 67 and 87. The lower end of the lever 95 is bent andforked to straddle the eye 72 of the brake rod 67 and the tongue 92 ofthe brake rod 87. A pin 96 connects the lever to the eye 72 ofrod 67.The lever 95 is shown as having a curved or bent contour extendingupwardly and forwardly and then turned rearwardly to where'at itsextremity it is shown provided with a foot piece or pedal 97. The pedallever 95, as already indicated, is intended to operate at will the 96,or the brake rod 87, the lever having a forward extension 98 for thispurpose, straddling the tongue 92, and carrying a roller 99 bearing uponthe top side of the tongue. WVith the parts in the ,position shown thebrake rod 67 is locked. and therefore the pedal lever will swing aboutthe pin 96, and the roller 99 will press down on the tongue 92 andthereby depress the brake rod 87, tightening the brake band 81 andapplying reverse drive. In order to give slow forward drive the lockingslide 74 should be shifted to I release the brake rod 67 and lock therod 87 before the pedal lever is thrown. For the purpose of shifting thelocking slide is shown a forked lever 101 pivoted upon a bar 102 boltedto the left face of the fixed extension 23. The fork of the shiftinglever 10]. engages the leftward extending fin er 7 8 of the lockingslide. The spring 79 he (Is the parts normally in the position shown. Anoperating rod 103 is shown for swinging the shifting lever 101 toreverse the locking slide. The rod 103 in turn is pulled by a spring 104which should be considerably stiffer than the spring 79. An upper pullrod 105 is connected to the spring and this in turn by a bell crank 106and pull rod 107 is connected to a tipping lever 108, shown separatelyin Fig. 6, the lever- 108 havin an outstanding toe or finger 109 arrangealongside the foot piece 97 and pro-' jecting substantially above thesurface thereof, with a stop projection 110 determining the relativepositions of foot piece 97 and lover 108 and thereby the projectingmember 109. In driving a vehicle the foot may normally rest, asindicated in Fig. 2, flatly upon the pedal 97, alongside the projection109. In this condition the forward brake rod 67 is locked as in Fig. 3,and if the pedal be depressed the lever 95, swinging about the fulcrum96. will depress the brake rod 87 and apply slow reverse drive. If,however, the foot should be shifted to overlie slightly the projection109 before the pedal is thrust, this will swing the lever 108 andthrough the pull rods will cause the shifting of the locking slide 74 soas to lock the brake rod 87 and free the rod 67, so that the thrustingof the pedal and swinging of the lever will in that case pull up uponthe rod 67, with the roller 99 as a fulcrum, and apply slowforwarddrive. As stated, the reversal of the spring 79 will reverse theoperation, so that the foot pressed flatly on the pedal will bring aboutslow forward drive, while the application of the foot to the project-ion109 will first convert the mechanism for reverse drive before the pedalis thrust downwardly; in fact the pedal 97, with its convertingprojection 109, may be used for changing from any desired condition ofdrive to any other desired condition of drive.

In one aspect the illustrated apparatus may be described as comprising atransmitting means which aflords different conditions of drive byadjustment, a first applier or engaging means for putting one conditionof drive into effect, specifically low speed forward drive, a second aplier for putting another condition into e ect, specifically low speedreverse drive, a control lever or pedal having connections for applyingone or the other'of the appliers, and a device for rendering operativeat will the connections from the lever to either of the appliers. Thetwo appliers thus give two conditions of drive and when neither of theseis in effect the apparatus normally dolivers high, or full speed drive,namely in a self adjusting manner through the cen trifugal mass type oftransmission. The finger, shift member or projection 109 standsalongside the main pedal and is relatively movable for the purpose ofshifting the applier connections. The shift member and the rods which itoperates are associated with the pedal lever and preferably mounteddirectly on it so as to swing with the lever. The pumose of the spring104 will be understood Tom the fact that this spring will stretchconsiderably when the pedal is thrown fully forwardly. The spring alsoserves the function of restoring the pedal to normal position when thefoot lll lid

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invitation is moved. The spring 104 is strongerthan the spring 79 sothat when the shift mem ber, projection or toe 109 is depressed, thiswill act through the pull rods and spring 104 to stretch the spring 79and shift the locking slide from one brake rod to the other. The element98 may be described as a rocker, rocked by the throw of the pedal lever.It is like a floating rocker, having pivotal connection to both brakerods and therefore to both appliers or brakes. One brake rod movesupwardly to apply its brake and the other moves downwardly, 'so thatwhen the rocker is rocked by the pedal this operates against both rodsand tends to apply both brakes. One brake rod being locked the rockingaction therefore shifts the free brake rod and applies the correspondingbrake or applier.

It will thus be seen there has been de scribed a power transmissionapparatus with means for controlling the conditions of drive,accomplishing'the objects and em-' bodying the principles of the presentinven-- tion. Since various matters of combination, arrangement,operation, mechanism and detail may he modified without departing fromthe principles of the invention. it is not intended to limit theinvention to such matters except to the extent specified. in theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Power transmission ap aratus comprising transmitting means a ording'difier ent conditions of drive, and normally delivering normal forwarddrive, a first applier for putting a difierent drive condition intoefl'ect, a second applier for putting another different drive conditioninto efe test, a control pedal having connections for applying one orthe other of said appliers comprising normally operative connections tothe first applier and normally inoperative connections to the secondapplier, and a relativcly movable toe piece adjacent said pedal forrendering inoperative the coin ncctions to the first applier andoperative the connections to the second applier, ar-- ranged so that theloot can a be pressed either upon the pedal only to apply the firstapplier or upon the toe piece to move it relatively and then depress thepedal to applp the second applier.

2. ower transmission apparatus comprising transmitting means aflordingditlerent conditions of drive, an applier for putting one condition ofdrive into edect, a second applier for putting another condition intoetlect, a control lever with pedal, a shift tin-- ger or projectionmovaloly arranged lateral- .ly adjacent the pedal whereby the toot canhe applied upon the pedal only or upon the linger and pedal, connectionsfrom the control lever to the appliers normally arranged so that thethrow of the lever applies the first applier, and means operated fromthe finger for changing such connections so that the throw of the leverapplies the second applier.

3. Power transmission apparatus as in claim 2 and wherein the meansoperated from the linger comprises a tipping lever on the pedal leverwhereby the push of the finger is converted to a pull, pull rods pulledthereby, and a shifting device reversed by said rods.

4. Power transmission apparatus as in claim 2 and wherein the meansoperated. from the finger comprises a tipping lever on the pedal leverwhereby the ush of the finger is converted to a pull, pul rods pulledthereby, and a shifting device reversed by said rods, with a yieldspring associated therewith to permit yield as the'pedal lever isthrown.

5, Power transmission apparatus comprising transmitting means aflordingdifferent conditions of drive, an applier tor putting one condition oidrive into eil'ect, a second applier for putting another condition intoeli'ect, a control lever or pedal having conneotions for applying one orthe other oil? said appliers, and a device for rendering operative atwill the connections from said lever to either applier; the connectionsfrom the lever comprising a floating rocker (as 98) connecting with bothappliers and ad apted to he rocked by the swing of said lever, and thedevice for rendering operative the connections to either applier being"a reversihle locking device for locking; either applier inoperative,whereby when the lever is thrown it operates through the rocker to applythe other applier.

6. In combination, two appliers and an operating member or rod :toreach, one red movable in one direction and the other in the oppositedirection to apply the respective appliers, a rocker connected to bothrode, a control lever to roclr the rocker and a device tohold one or theother rod'against movement and so free the other for move ment.

7?. The combination as in claim 5 and wherein is a shitt memher "lll thecontrol lever, and connections theretrom to said holding device.

lln testimony whereof, we have attired our signatures hereto.

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